The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to the Information Regulator of South Africa (IRSA) regarding the decision by the Gauteng Department of Roads and Logistics to deny our Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application to access the unredacted forensic investigation report on the issuing of bus subsidies between 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 financial years.
The department is shielding corrupt officials implicated by refusing to disclose the unredacted PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report.
The DA opened a case against the implicated officials last year August. To properly investigate the allegations made by PwC, the South African Police Service (SAPS) needs the unredacted report.
The department has refused to give this information to SAPS and has instead cited the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) as the reason why this information cannot be made available to the SAPS or the DA.
The PWC report recommended that the Accounting Officer of the Gauteng Department of Roads and Logistics take or further pursue criminal action against the former Head of Department (HOD), Ronald Swartz, as he caused unauthorised, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure and committed financial misconduct amounting to R70 million and R130 million relating to the payment of relief payments for the 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 financial years, respectively, and irregular expenditure amounting to R20 million paid to Autopax in relief payments.
The fact that the department refuses to release the full report to the SAPS is a clear indication that Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s government has no intention of rooting out corruption; instead, they are protecting corrupt officials.
The only way to clamp down on corruption and misconduct in the Gauteng Provincial Government is by adopting a zero-tolerance approach to corruption and ensuring consequence management.
A DA-led Gauteng provincial government would immediately implement the recommendations of forensic investigation reports. We will ensure that officials found guilty of financial misconduct face the full force of the law and utilise all available mechanisms to recover the money lost due to their negligence.